A New York resident looks at a demonstration of a new bicycle sharing system, which will start in New York in July. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

New York's long-awaited bike share scheme, which envisages the distribution of 10,000 bicycles along some of the city's busiest streets, will be sponsored by Citi financial group, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Monday.

Citi Bike, due to launch in July, will be the largest public bike share system in the US, with bikes placed in 600 docking stations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Citi has paid $41m to sponsor the scheme, in return for royal blue branding across bikes and stations.

The scheme will be operated by Alta bicycle share, which runs similar projects in Washington DC and Boston.

"The idea behind bike share is simple: give people one more way to get around town," Bloomberg said in a statement.

"The new Citi Bikes will be an affordable, entirely new, 24/7 transportation network that will help New Yorkers get where they're going faster. When the walk seems a little far, New Yorkers can choose to skip the hike, and take a bike."

The scheme was announced in September 2011, and the department of transport has spent the last eight months planning locations for the docking stations. Full details on the locations have not been released yet, but they will include Times Square, Penn Station and close to Central Park.

Annual membership of the scheme will cost $95, which entitles users to free journeys up to 45 minutes. For those unwilling to commit to a year's cycling, seven-day subscriptions are available for $25 or 24-hour access for $9.95, with the first 30 minutes of any journey free.

The official website for the scheme – citibikenyc.com – says pricing is "designed to keep bike share trips short, from point to point".

The aggressive pricing strategy is likely to ensure riders keep their trips short. Although short journeys are free, anyone wanting to take a bike for the day will face very high charges. People who do not sign up to an annual membership – tourists, for example – would pay $49 for a three-hour ride, plus the $9.95 24-hour access fee, making a total of $59.

While some might question the wisdom of sending up to 10,000 potentially wobbly cyclists out onto Manhattan's streets, Citi Bikes' FAQs put any fears to rest. Under the "Is bike-share safe?" question, Citi asserts that the bikes "are not capable of high speeds".

The department of transport said the bikes and docking stations, which will begin to be installed from "late July", will be the same as in London, Montreal and Minneapolis; however, in at least one sense Bloomberg will be hoping the New York scheme differs from its London equivalent.

Announcing the scheme, the mayor said New York City would "split system profits with the operator", generating a potential new revenue scheme, however the London scheme has ended up losing money since it launched in 2010.